Announcement and Such
Shaenon: So yeah, I’m due in July. That’s all for now because I am friggin’ tired.
Channing: Andrew, please don’t kill me. The decision to have my author avatar refer to you as “that little Italian guy” was entirely your wife’s, not mine.
Discussion (82) ¬
I already own them all!
So? Buy copies to give as gifts.
All of the babies?
Congrats Shaenon – Hope this doesn’t mean less cartooning – although I’m guessing it will eventually… 😀 Hope all goes well….
I don’t know that it should.
Traveling is harder with children, especially little ones. So they’ll have to be somewhat judicious about that. Long hours are hard on children, but they’re hard on adults too, so if they’re doing that it’s time to change their procedures so that they can squeeze a living wage out of two 40-hour weeks. (Given their productivity, they should be doing that already. Under “reasonable” economic assumptions, which I won’t bother to spell out but which would take a page to list, but which boil down to “there is a realistic market for their skills”.)
They may have to admit that there isn’t enough time in the week to do everything that needs doing, and pay someone else to do some of the things that need to be done. Housecleaning services are not that expensive and do not indicate either slovenliness or haughtiness on the part of the family: just a choice. That they can afford.
In the “old days”, neighbors came by and helped with the cooking and cleaning. Now we have to pay. Oh, we can help her pay.
Spawning isn’t an achievement worthy of congratulation. It is the baseline function of dimorphic eukaryotic life… on an equivalent level to breathing, even if thankfully far less frequent. For some people it takes more effort NOT to do so.
I’m under the impression that the tradition of congratulations upon learning of someone’s pregnancy is not so much for an “achievement”, but for having received good fortune, such as becoming engaged or inheriting a substantial sum.
You must be real fun at parties.
Once you’ve read through the comments enough, you realize that that particular user showed up, made a lot of… well, _abrasive_ comments, and then, after a very short period of time, either was banned, or simply faded back into whatever quagmire they had crawled out of.
It’s better to think of what a sad, sad human being they must be to essentially disparage Shaenon for having a child. And they vehemnently refused to acknowledge the existence of the word “y’all”, so you see what we’re dealing with here. It’s wise to simply ignore their comments entirely.
Huzzah! You’re making your very own evil creation! (You’re not making Andrew carry it?)
Yay and congrats! 😀
Wait, what? Wait, WHAT?! WAIT…
(slack jawed look of total gobsmackedness)
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Mazel Tov! Blessed be! Namasté! And other noises of happy beginnings!
Now this fellow parent needs to go by some Skin Horse (I was in on the ultimate narbonic collection, so that’s full up… Though I *could* get a friend or two some volumes, now that I mused long enough to cost myself more money.)
Ooooo, follow-up question — if I get the Skin Horse collection, can I get *4* original strips, or is it one strip per order per household? No, not being greedy (I’m psyched to get even ONE original), just planing my holiday and birthday gifting.
I think everyone is rooting for the resulting child to have the middle name “Beta”. Or at least the nickname.
… and a first name of either Helen, Mell, Lupin, or Artie.
Gamma, surely? Congratulations, Shaenon, Great Mistress of Mad Science.
Or maybe Max or William?
Congratulations!
Congratulations!
…If I buy e-books, do I get e-copies of original strips?
Congratulations! Yay baby!
CONGRATS Shaenon!
Congratulations!
Now that’s just awesome. Congratulations to you both (and sorry, I don’t mean Mr Channing there). And good luck: as a father of three I know that “Narbonic” and “Skin Horse” are barely enough to prepare you for the wonder, toil, insanity, and bliss that awaits you.
we’re doomed O_O
You had me at “couscous store”.
If you followed her on twitter, you would have experienced the rage already. (Poor Andrew.) And good luck Andrew & Shaenon! And Channing, get her a baby monitor.
Congrats!
Conga Roedentia!
(TUNE: “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, George M. Cohan)
I’m an angry pregnant woman!
I’ve got books that I must sell!
I’ve got a mortgage, plus I’ve also got
Extra expenses, as well!
If you buy a book from Couscous,
You’ll get artwork you can frame!
Some little weird Italian guy done knocked me up, for realsies!
Now I’m an angry pregnant dame!
Old George M. is either fast-spinning in his grave or cackling madly in delight.
Congratulations!!!!
Many congratulations. I’ll have to get a book or several now.
Congrats, and best wishes for your family!
Our compliments, oh e-comic goddess! Felicitations! Greetings to the new material fodder! Hail! Best wishes! Let’s all give a ‘hear-hear’! Good going! Here’s wishing you many restful nights! Good work!
Now you offer…
@Channing: At least your avatar doesn’t say, “That little French guy.”
Congrats to Shaenon! I was wondering when she would announce it here.
(Tune: “Help”, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.)
Help, I need some sales.
Help, I’ll take any sales.
Help, you know I need some sales, help!
When I was thinner so much thinner than today
I never needed anybody’s cash in any way.
But now those days are gone; I cannot see the floor.
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened Couscous store.
Help me if you can, I’m feeling poor,
And I do appreciate donations more.
Help me get my checkbook in the black.
Won’t you please, buy a stack?
And now my life has changed in oh so many ways.
My calm demeanor seems to vanish; now I’m crazed.
But every now and then I feel so ducking poor.
I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before.
Help me if you can, I’m feeling poor,
And I do appreciate donations more.
Help me get my checkbook in the black.
Won’t you please, buy a stack?
When I was thinner so much thinner than today
I never needed anybody’s cash in any way.
But now those days are gone; I cannot see the floor.
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened Couscous store.
Help me if you can, I’m feeling poor,
And I do appreciate donations more.
Help me get my checkbook in the black.
Won’t you please, buy a stack? Buy more, much more, ooh!
Already congratulated, but doing it again! And that description of Andrew makes him sound like Mario.
Congratulations, Shaenon! And ShinyHappyGoth beat me to the Mario reference.
Mazel-tov!
Congratulations Shaenon & Andrew 🙂 May the child combine the best qualities o both parents and any fictional characters they’ve created!
Congrats!
Congratulations!!!!!
Ooh, congratulations! Unless you just swallowed a watermelon whole… in which case, that’s still an impressive accomplishment.
Congratulations! 😀
…I am amazed at how little the phrase ‘angry pregnant woman’ was heeded. As the father of two, hard-learned reflex made me immediately scramble for the store and my wallet. 🙂
Congrats, Shaenon.
Congratulations!
Just bought all 4 Skin Horse books… hope my art strip has a nice close image of Unity talking happily. I don’t dare hope for a Sweetheart rampage image, as those are rare, but hopefully Sweetie will be in it, too… I checked to see if there was a Lurch for the Cure T-shirt like Unity wears, but was sadly unable to find one- or the artwork with the zombies lurching for the cure either… Oh, well, I’ll keep looking!
Congrats on becoming a parent! I have nothing original to say on the subject, but I do send my best wishes for you and the father, and for the baby-to-be!
I seem to recall a rather subtler announcement of this news a couple of months ago, but for the sake of completeness I’ll say it again here: Congratulations, Shaenon and Andrew!
And I second what Warren Terra said about how we’re all rooting for the child to have the middle name or at least the nickname “Beta.” Like, if this were a Kickstarter project, we’d totally pool our money to get the reward level that would let us pick the child’s middle name, and we’d call her (or him or whatever) “Beta.”
Also, Jeff, I’m guessing you’re not currently with child, but I don’t want you to feel left out today amidst all the well-deserved good wishes people are directing at Shaenon, so I will say that you are awesome, too.
I honestly have no idea what’s up with my browser always putting comments at the bottom of the page. I am certain I am clicking on the right clicky things. Andy4Hire, my reply of just a few minutes ago is self-evidently to you. Thank you for spreading some happy my way.
Congratulations! And sympathy for the tiredness. I’ve done this twice in the last three years; in my opinion, early parenthood is not nearly as exhausting as pregnancy.
If this is really the first mention of this, that’s very restrained of you. I’m impressed!
*throws confetti* Congratulations!
Thanks so much! You are correct in intuiting my non-pregnant status, which, were it ever to change, would be miraculous in more than one fashion.
Congratulations, Shaenon!
(Ok, not very original; but sincere. We like to think that counts for something.)
My best wishes to you and yours!
Congrats!
Congratulations, O mistress of mad science art. I am sure there will be much joy in your future.
For some reason, I am picturing your baby dressed in a miniature lab coat in the future . . .
So much win in this little announcement!
Wish I had something to throw at you
And congratulations to you and your little italian guy!
“A long shot”?
I see what you did there…
Congratulations! And thanks for the entertaining announcement!
Congratulations!!!
*comes in late*
Whoa! Congrats, Italian Guy!
Oh, and Shaenon, too..
Conga Ratz!
To Shaenon and the little Italian guy goes my sincerest congratulations.
To Jeffrey and the little Italian guy goes my deepest sympathy.
I’d love to purchase some Narbonic and Skin Horse books, but I have my own pair of financial sink-holes busy depleting the contents of my bank account…
Congratumalations!
Holy cow, congratulations!
Well there goes the Tiki Bar.
And probably the Comic Con appearance.
But on the plus side: Baby! They smell nice (most of the time), and they’re so much fun to make.
Congratulations!
Congratulations!
Here’s hoping the kid doesn’t tire you out too much.
Wow! I’m very late to the party, but I’ll add my congratulations and well-wishes to the flood. May everything go smoothly, and your futures be blessed.
Congrats, Shaenon! And Italian guy! Hope you’re stocking up on your sleep.
Congrats!
Congratulations, and let me know if there’s a chip-in link if there’s an unforseen emergency and you need to raise funds. (You have my e-mail address.)
A.G.
Congrats!
Ugh… this is a cultural contagion. A memetic malady.
To the purpose of refining humanity and removing erroneous habits of the populace, I swear I shall find a way to stop people congratulating each other for doing what animals have been doing constantly all over the face of this planet for the past billion years.
I amn so looking forward to getting past August 2014 in my current trip through the archives.
… okay, someone needs to follow along and swep up the trail of selfimportant sneering that was left behind in August here. I’m guessing one of the GoComics regulars decided to investigate the actual strip, since he seems to have been non-familiar with the filking/pieming traditions here a few days ago?
And a congratulations to Shaenon and family! Yes, it’s late, but it might help make up for some lack of sleep at this point!
–Dave
No, he’s been around long enough to be familiar with some of the lost WCN posts. He’s just an arse.
who managed to deliver an enormous number of nasty posts in a 24 hour period.
Still not convinced Shannon is angry and not mad